1 comment:

I'd phrase it a little differently. "I believe in the free speech that liberals claim to believe it, the economic freedom that conservatives claim to believe in, and the personal freedom that America claims to believe in."

As I see it, most people are now unwilling to accept the consequences of their beliefs. You have such contradictions as people--who claim to believe in free speech--turning around and saying that such speech must not offend anyone. I truly do believe in free speech, but I recognize that such a belief is going to allow people to say things with which I vehemently disagree. That is one of the unfortunate downsides of free speech, but unless you are willing to accept the right of people, such as Fred Phelps and his band of idiots, to say offensive things you don't have free speech. Free speech is sort of like pregnancy, you either have free speech or you don't just as you are either pregnant or you are not. There simply is no in between. And yes, that belief includes the most often cited example of crying fire in a crowded theater.

That said, I do believe that people should be held responsible for their speech--something the Supreme Court has not done with any regularity. In my perfect world people would be allowed to cry fire in the theater, but they would be responsible for the consequences of doing so. For example, if someone was injured trying to escape the nonexistent fire, the person shouting fire should be charged and prosecuted for the injury. If there were no injuries resulting for the false cry of fire, the other attendees should be allowed to sue the crier for loss of entertainment. In short, you are free to cry fire in a theater if you wish, but be prepared to accept the consequences of doing so.